Space Travel

One of Saturn’s many moons, Enceladus, has been peppered with eruptions. Underneath the icy surface, there is a probability of a global ocean, which makes it even more suspicious that it has developed these fissures on its surface, mainly on the south pole. The erupted particles take about forty minutes or so to reach the level that the Cassini satellite can detect them, but the interesting thing is that these eruptions take about five ours to reach their peak. The scientists in the article Kite and Rubin, after extensive research, have noted that there is a point in time in which the water heats up enough to produce eruptions that match this lag.

Scientists have noted that this activity is similar to that on Europa, one of Jupiter’s moons, which leads scientists to believe that the study of Enceladus can help us find out more about Europa as well.

Uranus the most mysterious of the gas giants, in its form, orbit, and rotation. It is a widely known fact that Uranus rotates on its side, but its strange tilt also means that its magnetic field is skewed, so that its magnetic north and south are vastly different than its polar. In addition, the storms happen during strange periods of time. When Uranus approached Earth, scientists noticed that more-than-anticipated storms were occurring on the planet’s surface. Uranus is also the coldest planet in the solar system, despite not being the farthest, due to its lack of its own internal heat source.

The Juno spacecraft is on its way to Jupiter, getting closer and closer as the years go by. Having left in August of 2011, five years later, Juno is due to arrive in July of this year. It is going to be the first solar-powered spacecraft to reach as far as Jupiter. Its mission is to study the planet, in search of evidence of a solid core, understand its origin, to detect and measure its magnetic field, detect signs of water and ammonia in the atmosphere, and etc.

The distance between Earth and Jupiter is astounding, seeing as it is taking five years for Juno to reach Jupiter. Additionally, since Juno is only supposed to orbit around Jupiter for one year after travelling for so long, it will be really interesting to see what information the probe will gather.

This incredible photo from the rover Opportunity pictures the Endeavor crater rim. It’s truly amazing how that even 12 years after being sent, Opportunity is still sending back photos this amazing.

Opportunity is the longest-running Mars Rover, having been exploring and taking pictures of Mars since 2004. Opportunity has been documenting mineral samples, craters, and even the discoveries of the existence of water since it embarked. Having many difficulties, including being stuck inside of a sand dune for several weeks, the rover is still moving, and sending images similar to the one above.

Traveling at the speed of light is entirely impossible in this present day and age, and the question of whether or not we will be able to travel at such a high speed or faster is still unanswerable. The speed of light sets the speed limit for the universe, so that should mean that light speed is achievable, does it not? Theoretical physicist Miguel Alcubierre proposed a theory detailing a type of “warp drive” that, rather than surpassing the cosmic speed limit, instead goes around it by evenly creating a “small bubble” around a ship that allows the ship to move as quickly as the pilot would like. However, this would violate “the weak energy condition,” which is not always viable, but allegedly can produce strange happenings. Apparently, there have not currently been any violations, so Alcubierre’s theory is not entirely false, but lacks plausibility.